Breaking SLO's into 3 areas: Delivery, Assessment, and Support

More of my thoughts on this idea of competency based learning: break the student learning outcomes (SLO’s) into 3 distinct sections:

(1)       Delivery of Material – This can be done in (a) the form of online resources within and outside of Blackboard (videos, lecture recordings, etc.) and (b) the form of lecture series (learning sessions) focusing on specific SLO content – there are some SLO’s that cross courses, so why “teach” them to each different group. For example, courses that all deal with MS Office Software. If they share a common SLO, then they can share the material delivery as well. These learning sessions do not have to be 50 minutes or 1:15; they are as long as it takes to deliver the material. A schedule, of course, would have to be provided in advance.

(2)       Assessment of Student – This does not have to be done by the same person who delivered the material. In fact, why not have the checks and balance? The assignments are assessed by faculty credentialed for the SLO of each of the courses. Using the same example above, the student would attend a learning session where they learned to create tables. Then s/he would create the tables in MS Word (or the appropriate word processor) and submit them to the appropriate faculty member for assessment.

(3)       Student Support – Here’s where lab space and tutors come in. We need to have the ability to provide support for students in two ways: (a) tutoring and content assistance in order to help students better understand the material in order to successfully complete the assessment. (b) General student support – someone the student can go to for anything. This person would also contact the student if they are not attending (participating) and/or not submitting assignments (assignments that are submitted and need help improving are taken care of in 3a).

It is certainly a different view.

Do we want a surgeon, construction worker, etc. to do (know) only 70% of the work?

Students are shooting for a passing grade regardless of how many competencies they fail to demonstrate. Competency based learning is definitely a great idea for assessment of student learning outcomes (SLO) and ensuring students are capable to perform ALL of the objectives to a minimum. I think I’ve shared with some of you the idea that a 70% C does no longer mean that the student completed each of the assignments with a 70% proficiency. It can mean that the student only did 70% of the work and left off those remaining 30% for whatever reason without completion.

The only way to ensure the complete assessment of all SLO’s for a course is to require a level of success for each SLO. Some of them may be set at 70%; others that are more important can be higher and even up to 100% proficiency. We should ensure the assessment of student proficiency of each and every SLO.

Re-Evals on Pre-reqs

Figure out how we can determine what content is actually needed prior to a course. For instance, those with a pre-req of English (what in the ENGL101 is exactly what you are looking for?). This will then help us create a structure of support for the students and possibly eliminate some of the pre-reqs that are preventing students from moving forward (because they may be able to master that one or two concepts in the pre-req course, but have to take the entire course to prove it).

In the end, there has to be a better way. Or we can do this: http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6406388/salting-the-road-the-hard-way. We have the equipment, so we just have to use it to work for our advantage. :)